RUMFORD — Lacking its earlier mojo but still packing heavy rainfall, Tropical Storm Irene caused brooks and streams to rise rapidly on Sunday wreaking havoc in Oxford and Franklin counties.
A young girl yells about muddy water rushing down Spruce Street in Rumford on Sunday afternoon during Tropical Storm Irene. Bean Brook overflowed its banks, forcing evacuations on the brook side of the street.
During Tropical Storm Irene, Rumford fire Lt. Chris Bryant, third from left, talks with residents on Sunday afternoon while Bean Brook rages over the Spruce Street bridge and travels down the street. Residents farther down Spruce Street were evacuated earlier.
During Tropical Storm Irene on Sunday afternoon, Rumford Selectmen Chairman Greg Buccina, left, watches after helping Robert Saisi, right, wade to Saisi's son Kevin, who then helped him across Bean Brook floodwaters that raged down Spruce Street. The Saisis couldn't drive across the damaged street, so they had to walk to get to their Holyoke Avenue residence.
Strong gusting winds blew this sign several feet up Spruce Street shortly after this photo was taken of Bean Brook flowing down the street, depositing cobblestones and woody debris in the road and driveways of residents on Sunday afternoon in Rumford.
During Tropical Storm Irene, rain water fountains from an overloaded storm drain on Routes 2 and 108 in Rumford near the Information Center.
Jonah Downs, 11, of Rumford runs a jug of milk up Spruce Street on Sunday afternoon as Bean Brook rages down the street and amidst houses on the west side of the road. Residents on that side were evacuated earlier.
A man carrying belongings wades across Bean Brook in the driveway of a lower Spruce Street apartment on Sunday afternoon. The brook water streamed into the driveway from a few blocks north at the intersection of Holyoke and Maine avenues where the brook undermined the road at a bridge.
Heavy rain from Tropical Storm Irene blew Bean Brook out of its banks on Sunday afternoon, destroying this section of Spruce Street at Holyoak and Maine avenues.
Four-year-old Joshua Chase carries the last of four sections of white picket fence to his mom during Tropical Storm Irene on Sunday afternoon as Bean Brook flows into their driveway and down Spruce Street in Rumford.
Raging silt-laden waters from Bean Brook backflow out of a traffic cone in the middle of Spruce Street on Sunday afternoon during Tropical Storm Irene in Rumford.
A Central Maine Power truck kicks up water from Bean Brook which overran its banks Sunday afternoon and raged down Spruce Street. Unable to get through due to a washout at Holyoke and Maine avenues, the driver had to reverse his way back down the street.
Water heavily laden with silt from Bean Brook joins the Androscoggin River below Pennacook Falls Dam at upper right after the brook jumped its banks and raged down Spruce Street for a few blocks on Sunday afternoon.
By Sunday evening, Andover had nearly 6 inches of rain, followed by Bethel with 4.75 inches Brownfield with 4.27 inches and New Sharon with 4.15 inches.
By early afternoon, police, fire departments and highway crews began closing submerged or damaged roads from Rumford to Carrabassett Valley.
Gusting winds also wreaked havoc with power lines across much of the two Western Maine counties, felling trees onto them and houses in West Bethel and Oxford.
Trees fell on a house in Oxford, destroying it and sending two people to a shelter at the American Legion in that town, Allison Hill, Oxford County Emergency Management Agency in Paris, said.
Route 27 was shut down after the Carrabassett River bridge at the Sugarloaf Access Road in Carrabassett Valley washed completely out, Clyde Ross, Franklin County EMA spokesman, said early Sunday evening.
Route 4 in Madrid was also shut down for a while, but Ross said a Maine Department of Transportation crew fixed the damage and reopened the highway by early evening.
Ross said Phillips and Avon both have problems with flooding from Sandy River "and we're going to have problems on down the river."
"Sandy River is very full from Phillips down to Strong now, so we're going to have plenty of water down in Farmington by the time we're done," he said.
The section of Route 4 by McDonald's restaurant that typically floods was still passable by early evening, but Ross said that's likely to change during the night.
The George Thomas Road (Route 41) in Chesterville and New Sharon was closed Sunday evening due to flooding, he said.
"There are several roads in Wilton that have been closed, with a lot of them getting washouts and culverts out, too," Ross said.
Several trees were felled by Irene in Farmington and Wilton, he said.
Among the other highway closures were Route 120 in Rumford and Route 17 in Mexico and Byron. Route 17 was under 2 feet of water, Mexico fire Chief Gary Wentzell said.
Two sets of trees took out power lines on Route 232 in Rumford, forcing closure of that road as well.
Other roads that were closed due to flooding, trees or downed power lines are Route 5 in Lovell, the Andover Road and Elm Street in Andover, and Route 26 in Grafton Notch.
In Rumford, Bean Brook shot out of its banks and onto Spruce Street, undermining it in several places and stranding residents in their homes on the east side of the street below Holyoke and Maine avenues.
Residents on the west side of the street were evacuated, Diana Casey. of Rumford, said.
"I've lived in Rumford my whole life and never seen anything like this here," she said, watching silt-laden brook water rage past her house.
"This just blows my mind. I took a walk down to the road and it was like I was on a riverboat."
Casey said one minute the road was clear, and the next, Bean Brook was careening madly down it.
"There was nothing here and then all of a sudden, it just whoomped!" she said.
Lori Chase said she looked out and saw her Spruce Street yard starting to flood. She maneuvered her car onto her lawn and as far out of the flooding driveway as she could.
"I can't get out," she said.
The brook raged down its channel and through neighborhoods on the west side of Spruce Street, where it regained the channel by cutting across an apartment lawn and driveway.
On Routes 2 and 108 by the Information Booth, water was fountaining into the air out of a storm drain manhole cover.
South Rumford Road was also closed due to flooding, as were Isthmus and Swain Roads.
Several basements flooded in Rumford, with water in one at 200 Plymouth Ave. above the furnace and rising toward the electrical panel.
A homeowner at 40 Holyoke Ave. called for help with a flooding basement, but Rumford firefighters tried in vain to find a safe way there before radioing dispatch that they couldn't get there.
Oxford and Franklin county EMA officials said they weren't aware of any injuries. Additionally, no one sought to ride out the storm in shelters other than the two forced to leave their destroyed house in Oxford, Hill said.
By early evening, Rumford firefighters were considering opening up a shelter at Mountain Valley High School for trapped residents on the east side of Spruce Street, she said.
Rumford fire Chief Bob Chase didn't return a call by press time.
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The opening where Bean Brook crosses under Spruce Street will be done right this time. This is the second time this has happened in the same location. When it was repaired the first time the opening that receives Bean Brook should have been built differently. It's time to evaluate personal who designed it's first repair.
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